Hi Everyone,
Below is a message I’ve received from an informed source (I stress informed source) close to Helvetia Wealth in Switzerland.
It is clear from the chronology the Court’s Administrator is UNLIKELY to investigate the mismanagement and misappropriation of funds to off-shore accounts (highly likely!) unless pressured to. The only way to ensure a thorough investigation and stand any chance of getting at least some monies back is for investors to have legal representation through Attorney Fischer & Partners. If we don’t have legal representation we will be playing straight into the hands of Helvetia W. I therefore urge ALL investors to contact a) Attorney Fischer & Partners and b) the Court Administrator without delay.
(I am not allowed to post links to Fischer & Partners or the Administrator on this forum, but more information can be found on Motley Fool under heading “Helvetia Wealth”.)
Here is the message I received: -
For whatever it is worth, here’s how the cookie will crumble, a brief summary of how the Court’s ruling is playing out, a chronology going forward:
1-Administrator has no formal plan in place yet until he meets with HW and verifies its books. A meeting will only take place, once HW meets its obligation as per Court’s order by paying, within 10 days after the ruling, CHF15, 000 in Court Fees and CHF35,000 in Administrator’s fees. HW still has few days to meet this obligation. In other words, it is correct to assume that no work will commence by the Administrator until the total amount, CHF50, 000 is paid, and failure to do so will result in swift pulling of the plug by the Administrator and the Court. Despite this fact, and as per the usual local MO, creditors already started to send their financial claims directly to the Administrator.
2-The Administrator is of the mindset, if he were to take Helvetia’s own statements at face value that it has no funds, thus it is safe to initially assume that the assets aren’t there which can mean that the Administrator might pull the plug at any time prior to the end of the Moratorium, April 14, especially if he concludes that HW can’t operate as a going liquid concern.
3-The Administrator operates within the Swiss Bankruptcy Laws and those are only valid within the Swiss Jurisdiction and Swiss borders thus you can deduce that any search for assets won’t be extended to beyond the Swiss Borders, not even to Liechtenstein. You can further deduce that no forensic accounting can be launched, due to lack of funding, in order to ascertain there was no siphoning of clients funds to offshore businesses and accounts controlled by Kamil Stender and partners.
4-HW is currently not represented by an attorney, which can also be a ploy by HW legal team who’d want HW to present itself as being Judgment-Proof, and since the Administrator won’t authorize such an expenditure since legal costs aren’t covered by critical overhead needed to maintain minimum existence during the moratorium. However, HW was represented during the last proceedings by the same Law Firm, Badertscher and Partners which represented HW for many years, this law firm know their way around the legal system and they’ll skate on thin ice when warranted, I say this with emphasis namely because if any HW clients, read victims, entertain the thoughts that they’ll forgo adequate legal representation, this will most certainly play right into the hands and game plan of HW and its legal hit-team. In other words, while I do put my faith and trust in the Swiss Legal System but in order to secure adequate vigorous representation, Helvetia clients, read victims, need a seasoned Legal Team, HW has one and HW’s victims need to be sure they get adequate representation. I’m convinced that HW is pursuing a game plan and they’re being coached behind the scenes by their attorneys and I strongly recommend that a seasoned and reliable Legal team is retained by HW clients and I strongly recommend the Law Firm of AFP Advokatur Fischer and Partners, both Dr. Daniel Fischer and Stephan Poehner are quite familiar with the Financial Services industry and you’ll find them to be a quick read and up to speed about HW. In a nutshell, due to the Swiss Legal Rules of Ethics, a law Firm can only assert legal representation once it is paid a fee and can produce relative legal proof, and AFP can most certainly be satisfied by a token sum in order to mitigate this requirement and secure timely legal representation for HW victims.
5-As part of the Court’s recent instructions, the Administrator is also required to look into allegations of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds. I must again stress that in view of lack of funding the Administrator might need prompting to give this area adequate allotment of funds, in lieu of disposing the entire case expeditively and sweeping the Helvetia Wealth matter under the carpet, and this can be better secured when HW victims have legal representation.
6-Any assets of the company will be allotted as follows:
A-Overhead to ensure the company can have a minimum existence and operation during the moratorium.
B-Staff’s liabilities, salaries etc…retroactive up to 2 years.
C-New Investors Funding.
D-Staff Pension Funds and Social Security.
E-Old Investors Funds.
You can say that A, B & C are treated as Privileged Creditors and residues of assets, the remaining balance, will be distributed to D & E.
7-In general, Administrator might report to the court, by the end of the moratorium or at any time prior, that the firm can’t sustain itself and thus the business should be liquidated.
8-The Court is abreast of current media reports, in Ireland and Switzerland, and in fact the court had asked the Administrator to look into the allegations being made. I personally deduce that this propelled the court, due to Media & Public's scrutiny, to shorten the moratorium period to 2 months in lieu of HW request for 4 months.
9-The Administrator will publish a call to the creditors to step forward, and this call is expected to happen around end March to 1st week of April.
but no doubt the poor souls who invested in this fund are delighted with your advice. They must be very stressed right now. You pointing them in the right direction must be helping them. I know if it were me I would be relieved to be getting advice from someone who knows the system and Switzerland's rules in particular.